First description of swimming behaviour of Amphisbaena bassleri Linnaeus, 1758 (Squamata, Amphisbaenidae)

Abstract

Amphisbaenians are predominantly fossorial species and are therefore commonly considered to have restricted locomotor abilities (Longrich et al., 2015). In turn, this has led to the hypothesis that the dispersal capacity and range of these species is limited (Hembree, 2006), which is at odds with recent biogeographic, phylogenetic, and phylogeographic analyses suggesting that oceanic rafting might have played a substantial role in the dispersion of these species across continents (Vidal et al., 2008; Vidal, 2009; Longrich, 2015). Although dispersal on woody debris or other types of ‘floating islands’ requires little movement from individual organisms, it does suggest that at least some of these species have the capacity to withstand above-ground or even aquatic conditions for fairly prolonged periods of time. As best as I could determine, only two studies confirmed that amphisbaenians could overcome aquatic barriers, including Maschio et al. (2009), who recorded swimming behaviour in Amphisbaena amazonica Vanzolini, 1951 and A. alba Linnaeus, 1758, and Teixeira et al. (2014) who suggested the same held true for A. caiari Teixeira et al., 2014. In this paper I present evidence for the swimming abilities of A. bassleri. Not much is known of the ecology or behaviour of this species, despite its wide distribution across tropical South America (Vanzolini, 2002; Lemos and Facure, 2007), even in anthropogenically disturbed landscapes (van der Hoek and Jarrín-V., 2017